have mostly be written by ChrisCook and can be found at his diary page

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

Jerome, can you merge this with ceebs´ diary, or viceversa?  

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

...further reinforcing the notion that governments are not good at managing companies....

And they're right: Governments run by them are terrible at it.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

BBC NEWS | Business | Northern Rock to be nationalised

Northern Rock is to be nationalised as a temporary measure, Chancellor Alistair Darling has said.

Neither of the two private proposals to take over the beleaguered bank offered "sufficient value for money to the taxpayer", Mr Darling said.

He said the public would gain if the government held on to Northern Rock until market conditions improved.

Ron Sandler, nominated by the government to run Northern Rock, said savers' deposits would be secure.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC NEWS | Business | Northern Rock to be nationalised

The Treasury now feels that nationalisation offers the most certainty of securing these guarantees, Mr Peston said.

It is thought that the business model it proposes will be similar to those put forward by the Virgin Group and the in-house management consortium.

These were likely to see a downsizing of the bank, with job cuts likely, observers say.

The Treasury had already recruited Mr Sandler, the former boss of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, to lead Northern Rock, in case it were nationalised.

Mr Sandler is widely regarded as having restored confidence in Lloyd's after its years in financial disarray.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

This just confirms the impression we have of this government as rudderless, a victim of circumstances rather than master of elements. Brown, whose political cowardice becomes more evident by the day is too wrapped in his fears to take charge and do the leadership thing. This leads to an administration that waits too long to do less than is necessary.

Brown waited 10 years to become Prime minister and he still doesn't seem to have a clue what it is for except for the title. I thought blair was bad but brown is inconceivably worse. As most people agree a bad decision made quickly is much better than a good decision too late.

keep to the Fen Causeway

FT.com / Mergermarket: Suing over Northern Rock (February 18 2008)

Northern Rock investors may be talking tough, but they face a hard battle for compensation for the company's nationalisation. Claims in either UK or EU courts for unfair taking of private property would rest on what the shares were actually worth. The small shareholder coalitions and the hedge fund SRM contend their holdings have a book value of around 450p a share, but that claim is on thin legal ice, given the high risk nature of many Northern Rock mortgages.

Other methods of valuing the bank yield far lower numbers. Northern Rock shares closed at 90p Friday, and the Virgin bid rejected by the government amounted to about 50p per share, if a pessimistic view on writedowns are included. The government can also argue that the shares are worthless because Northern Rock would have gone into administration last autumn without government help. In the last big UK nationalisation, Railtrack's big shareholders settled for 250p per share, not far off the 280p final closing price, but well below early claims of about 400p.

If Rock shareholders can dig up evidence of ministerial lies, regulatory failures or unnecessary dithering, they could claim government negligence or misfeasance. Key episodes could include Lloyds' interest in Northern Rock before the collapse and Sunday's decision to reject the private sector bids. But misfeasance claims are hard to win, as BCCI and Railtrack shareholders found out. In the Railtrack case, the judge was not swayed by evidence that the transport secretary had misled parliament about his plans to push the company into administration.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

Jérôme, Martin Wolf Agrees with you!

FT.com / Mergermarket: Nationalising Northern Rock was the right move (February 17 2008)

Nationalising Northern Rock was the right decision. It should have happened months ago. As soon as it became evident that the stricken bank could only survive with generous public sector guarantees, any so-called "private sector solution" was a mirage. This has finally become evident to the government itself, albeit far too late.

Fortunately, many of the lessons of this debacle have already been learned. These are three: first, regulation of banks needs to pay far fuller attention to the management of liquidity; second, the deposit insurance system of the UK needs to be more generous; and, finally, the UK must have a special insolvency regime for troubled banks that guarantees insured depositors immediate access to their money.

Now comes another lesson: the only solution was indeed nationalisation, as most informed observers have long argued. Yet that decision does not end the saga. The political damage will continue, not just of last September's run, the first since the 19th century, but of the subsequent dithering. It is troubling that the government found it so difficult to make this decision, merely because it was desperate to avoid being labelled "old Labour".

I don't recall when exactly Wolf joined the "informed observers". Does anyone know?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo